Famed felon seeks to join MDY vs Blizzard

If you've been keeping up, you already know of the court battle between Blizzard and MDY over the Glider automation software used with World of Warcraft. Another amicus brief has been filed in the case, and this one is a real attention-getter.

An amicus brief (often formally named amicus curiae -- friend of the court) is usually (but not always) where a concerned party submits additional information to the court, often to inform it of a wider impact or implication of certain outcomes beyond the fundamental interests of the direct parties to the case, or to provide other information which the court may be lacking. This isn't uncommon in particularly controversial, far-reaching or complex legal cases. That can go a little further, however, to what is called Intervention, where a third-party seeks to become a party to the case already in progress.

The filer of the Intervention is Jonathan Lee Riches, who is incontestably our favorite US Federal Prison inmate. Riches has previously sued "Adolf Hitler's National Socialist Party", "13 tribes of Israel", Plato, Nostradamus, Che Guevarra, Jimmy Hoffa, the Lincoln Memorial, the Eiffel Tower, the Garden of Eden, the Roman Empire, the Appalachian Trail, Three Mile Island (the island, not just the power-plant), Rockstar Games, George W Bush, Steve Jobs, Perez Hilton, Britney Spears, and hundreds more.

Now he's suing Blizzard because of World of Warcraft, and ... well, let's take a look at why ...

Riches' filing is hand-written, but well-practiced. In it, he requests permission to intervene 'as interveners have a[sic] interest in this case against Blizzard Entertainment Inc and their World of Warcraft video games which cause Intervenors to commit federal crimes. World of Warcraft cause Riches mind to live in a virtual universe, where Riches explored the landscape committing Identity theft and fighting cybermonster rival hackergangs.'

Honestly, this is great stuff.

'Riches,' it goes on, 'was addicted to video games and lost touch with Reality because of defendants. This caused Riches to commit fraud to buy defendants[sic] video games. Riches chose World of Warcraft over working a legit job, Riches mind became a living video game. I hold defendants liable and support Plaintiffs. I move for amicus curiae, I can provide this court with my medical charts, credit and receipts of buying their video games with fraud. I have newly discovered evidence. I pray this court will grant Intervenors motions for relief.'

That last sentence is pure legal boilerplate, but as for the rest, whew.

Riches is also asking for this to be considered en banc. That is not by just the Judge(s) involved in the case, but by all the Judges of the court. This is generally only used for cases of unusual significance, or of extraordinary complexity.

We rate Riches' chances of having his Intervention granted at about zero. You can see the whole, one-page motion over at Benjamin Duranske's Virtually Blind, whom we have to thank for bringing this absolute jewel to our attention. We're looking forward to popping a copy of this on the office notice-board.

It takes a special kind of person to sue Plato.

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